How To Get More Reading Done When You’re Out Of Time

I’ve never been much of a bookworm really. In fact, when I was in high school I managed to make a 200 page summer-reading book ruin the entire break. I despised reading so much because of those assignments that I quit reading books all together for years.

Sure I knew readers were leaders, but if they had to become leaders by reading Jane Eyre and The Great Gatsby then maybe I didn’t want to be one that badly.

It was over 8 years after traumatic summer reading experience that I finally read a book that really drove home the power of reading. That book was Dave Ramsey’s The Total Money Makeover. I discovered people building my dream life in those pages and the instructions for how I could do it too!

From there I picked up a couple other books Dave recommended, then some more. I had stumbled upon a vast treasure of information that could help me become exactly the person I’d always wanted to be!

Who has time to read?

So reading can change my life, awesome. But who has time to read with a full time job, a family, and all the other responsibilities of life?

That’s over 7 hours a week that could be devoted to learning without even changing my schedule!

Two Powerful Resources

The first resource I use to fill this time productively is Audible.com (affiliate link). For $15 a month I can download one book from their library each month. Since joining Audible.com the amount of quality material I’m consuming has spiked dramatically and I’m learning more than I ever had before! I’ve listened to the latest ideas from Seth Godin about becoming indispensable, Jim Collins’s studies of what makes companies great, and John Maxwell’s principles of leadership (to name a few).

The second resource I fill my commute with is the free audio CD from Success Magazine. If you’re not reading Success Magazine you owe it to yourself to sign up right now. Each issue comes with an audio CD that gives an inside look at the success habits of leading CEOs, entrepreneurs, and other achievers.

I can honestly say without hyperbole that these two audio resources changed the trajectory of my life. If you’re looking for a way to take yourself to the next level then this is the first thing I’d suggest.

Oh, and according to Dr. Thomas Stanley of The Millionaire Next Door the average millionaire reads at least one book a month. Just sayin…

Poor man’s version of Audible- the public library. Audio book selection is not great, but its decent and you taxes already pay for your membership. Every long roadtrip my wife and i take we cruise the library for interesting reads, We have “read” all of our areas Malcolm Gladwell Audio books.

I discovered Audible.com over a year ago and (combined with a library subscription) have read somewhere around 50 books. These include Mark Skousen’s award winning economics history book, to Atlas Shrugged, to Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations and Ludwig Von Mises Human Action. That last one is absolutely brilliant and the most difficult.

I listen to audio books in the gym, in car, while cooking dinner…..funny quirk about that is you find yourself using the words you listen to. When listening to a book written 250 years ago it could get a few odd stares.

Yea I wouldn’t be able to read nearly as many books without Audible. My goal
for 2011 is to read 20 (I’m ahead of pace right now). Oh, and as you
probably know, the average millionaire reads one non-fiction book a month
(according to Dr. Thomas Stanley of The Millionaire Next Door). I figure
reading 20 ought to do it, hah.

You should post a “best reads of 2011” list at the end of the year. I
started doing this a couple years ago to help me keep track and pass on the
best ideas to others.